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Jakarta Post

`Education league' looking for new talent

The Indonesian Education League, a national soccer league for students, will kick off its inaugural season with an overseas soccer scholarship up for grabs for successful participants

Agnes Winarti (The Jakarta Post)
The Jakarta Post
Fri, June 5, 2009

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`Education league' looking for new talent

The Indonesian Education League, a national soccer league for students, will kick off its inaugural season with an overseas soccer scholarship up for grabs for successful participants.

The 10 best soccer juniors will be awarded with training in Uruguay and an EU country.

The league was initiated by the National Education Ministry, the Office of the State Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs, and the Indonesian Soccer Association (PSSI).

Around 50,000 students - juniors, seniors and university students - are expected to participate in the league.

"We will select the 76 best soccer juniors under the age of 15 to be awarded with the scholarships at the School of Excellence *PPLP* in Ragunan," Indonesian Education League committee secretary Edhi Prasetyo told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

"They will get free soccer education there for three years.

"At least 10 of them may also get soccer scholarships abroad in countries with top soccer clubs, such as in the EU and Uruguay," Edhi added.

He said that for the country's young players to develop their skills, the National Education Ministry would hold a government-level cooperation with several countries in the EU, while the PSSI will continue its ongoing cooperation with Uruguay.

"We will also offer *the scholarships* to talented young players older than 15 years," Edhi said.

League director Toho Cholik Mutohir said he hoped the competition would provide a solution to the country's problems in developing a strong national soccer team, despite the sport's nationwide popularity.

Schools and universities wishing to register their team of 20 players and five officials must pay a fee of Rp 750,000.

"We see the fee as relatively affordable, because it translates into only Rp 30,000 for each member of the team," he said.

Registration will close on June 30.

As of Thursday, only 51 school teams have applied to participate in the league. The applicants are from Aceh, East Nusa Tenggara, Sumatra and Java.

Edhi admitted many schools remained uninformed about the league.

"We have only established league committees in 40 regencies and municipalities out of a total of 491 throughout the country's 33 provinces," he said.

"We will remedy the awareness problem soon."

The Indonesian Education League commences at the regency and municipality level in July, and runs until September.

The winners will advance to the provincial league.

The national final will be held in December in Jakarta.

Matches will be held on Saturdays and Sundays to avoid interfering with weekday academic activities.

Further information about the online registration to participate in the league can be found at www.ligapendidikan.com.

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